http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=5573

           Summary: Compiler (not linker) should generate an error for
                    missing main()
           Product: D
           Version: D1 & D2
          Platform: Other
        OS/Version: Windows
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P2
         Component: DMD
        AssignedTo: nobody@puremagic.com
        ReportedBy: clugdbug@yahoo.com.au


--- Comment #0 from Don <clugdbug@yahoo.com.au> 2011-02-14 02:09:54 PST ---
The standard linker error is (a) newbie-hostile; and
(b) on Windows, it generates an invalid executable. Running this executable
seems to cause an infinite loop you cannot break out of.

As Walter said on the newsgroup, it's not possible to solve this in general:
> The problem is the main() can come from a library, or some other .obj file handed to the compiler that the compiler doesn't look inside. It's a very flexible way to build things, and trying to impose more order on that will surely wind up with complaints from some developers.

But, it's only the trivial case that matters.
The compiler should generate an error if all files passed to the compiler are
.d/.di files, and there is no use of pragma(lib).
Error can be something like:
"No main function, and no .obj or .lib file which could contain one".

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bearophile_hugs@eml.cc changed:

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--- Comment #1 from bearophile_hugs@eml.cc 2011-02-14 04:04:23 PST ---
See also bug 5215, bug 4680

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Robert Clipsham <robert@octarineparrot.com> changed:

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--- Comment #2 from Robert Clipsham <robert@octarineparrot.com> 2011-02-14 21:03:52 GMT ---
Another possibility for this (and other linker errors) - given that dmd invokes the linker, its stderr could be redirected and filtered. The compiler can then give a nice error for a missing main() function, and also demangle symbol names without the linker needing modification. This avoids the issue of main() being in a library, but is also a bit more hacky.

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Borden Rhodes <incoming-only@bordenrhodes.com> changed:

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--- Comment #3 from Borden Rhodes <incoming-only@bordenrhodes.com> 2012-08-28 18:23:09 PDT ---
I agree that the emphasis should be on clarity of the error message rather than trying to out-think the programmer. The linker dump, to uninitiated noobs like me, looks an awful lot like a seg fault or bug with the compiler, not a flaw in the programmer.

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